New House = Barking

[saxtongirl]

Hello all,
Just to start ....at my old place my dogs were not barkers ....We just moved into a new home/condo about 2 weeks ago. The neighbor came to tell me they have been barking all day...:( It seems one of my two pups is having big time separation anxiety and I really need some advice to help him from barking all day while we are gone. I have been taping them and they seemed to be great last week. It went from all day to an hour to ten min etc. However when we went out yesterday for a mothers day brunch, my one decided to go back to his howling and chewed my furniture thru his cage. Yes we had the furniture too close to his cage but we had our old furniture that way in the past so I didnt think he would do such a thing. They are walked twice a day for aleast half hour to hour depending on the weather. We play with them in the house and the 2 of them go at it inside all the time. I am at my wits end as my s/o wants to put him in the garage if he doesnt stop. Any suggestions??????:confused:

[_Lisa_]

It sounds to me like you're just trying to pacify the symptoms & not fix the problem at hand. If your pet has separation anxiety then you'll need to do anxiety training at home, the purpose of which is to desensitize your pet from being anxious when you leave the house. Check this link below to try & determine if its really separation anxiety or possibly just boredom:

http://www.wagntrain.com/SeparationAnx.htm

Definitely stop & think before putting him in your garage if it doesn't have A/C. My garage is so hot in the summer weather it would be cruel to leave an animal in there, so you want to be cautious about doing that.

Along with the separation anxiety training you might consider meds, which work for some dogs (but did not work for my own), but hopefully you can resolve this matter without them (they're expensive & not a long term solution!) Good luck!

[saxtongirl]

Thanks Lisa!

[katiem]

I don't think putting him in the garage will help any, if anything it might get worse! Now not only are you gone, but he's also in a strange place all by himself. And he can still bark, and I'm sure the neighbours can still hear it.

I agree with Lisa, you are probably going to have to do a lot of work with him but you need to fix the problem, not just put a bandaid on it. It might just be that he's having problems adjusting to the new home. How long have you been there now? Could he be barking because he can hear the neighbours?

[saxtongirl]

I understand your concern and I would never put him in the garage, that was just my s/o speaking in anger, plus I dont think it would do him any good by moving him again. We have only been there almost 3 weeks and he is down to about 40 minutes barking/howling here or there. Its not constant thank god. My Lab is being good so I hope he learns from him. Ill just keep the routine and hope that it gets better. I really do believe that they are just getting used to the new house. They are great lovable dogs.